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Episode 211: Hot Spot
Hot Spot is the eleventh episode of the second season and the twenty-third episode overall. Notes * Clients: Coach Shawn Martin, Corey Jensen, Tanya Jensen * Bad Guys: Carla Baxter, Felix Cole, Tony Soto, Derek Poole Synopsis In order to get free football tickets, Sam asks Michael to join him in helping Coach Sean Martin, as one of his players is threatened by a gangster. Meanwhile, Michael works on finding out who tried to kill him. Spy Facts *When you work for an intelligence agency, you operate within an official structure. There's a chain of command to report to, protocols to be observed. No one questions their mission. But when you freelance, you don't have those luxuries. Getting your team on board may require some convincing. *Spies love technology upgrades. When someone replaces old equipment: a computer, a cell phone, a PDA, getting information becomes as easy as looking through the trash. When you need to steal information in a hurry just arrange the technology upgrade yourself. *If you need to buy a few seconds in an office environment, programming a computer to dial every phone in an office simultaneously is simple and cheap. Just set up your cell phone to trigger the calls remotely. To get away clean from an office, it's okay to run. People run out of offices all the time. If the look on your face says "I'm in a hurry", you can go as fast as you want. It's all about covering ground before the yelling starts. *There's a reason armies wear uniforms even though they make them easier to spot. Sometimes, that's what you want. Uniforms suggest organization, power and numbers. These, in turn, inspire fear. And as any good operative knows, there's no more effective weapon than fear. *Pepper grenades are used by anti-terrorist units to disable and stun. Not lethal, but a face full of pepper gas will keep you pretty busy. *Melting through the engine block of a car isn't hard if you know what you're doing. A few pounds of thermite in a coffee can and a fuse will do the trick, and put on a pretty good show. *When you need to get into a building in a hurry, you can always count on a fire exit. Every building has them. It's just about knowing how to use them. The right shape charge will put a big enough dent in a steel door to disengage the lock, which can turn a fire exit into a convenient and unexpected entrance. A coil of det cord attached to a rubber mat will give you the explosion you need and allow you to point it wherever you need it to go. SWAT teams call it a "hockey puck." *Blitzkrieg, or lightning war was a strategy pioneered by the Germans in World War II. It refers to a fast attack designed to inspire fear and confusion, penetrating quickly behind enemy lines. *Target selection is one of the least glamorous, but most important elements in any strategy. You want to take out the people your opponent depends on: the ones his organization can't function without. *There's an element of theater in any offensive campaign. It's not just about bullets and bodies. Killing people usually creates more problems than it solves. It's about undermining your enemy's will to fight, destroying the morale of his troops, sending the message that fighting back is useless because the battle is already lost. *There's an old saying in war that no plan survives the battlefield. Often, as a situation evolves, you create new enemies. Sometimes, you create new alliances, new friends. Soldiers are fine for dealing with the enemies but you need a spy to handle the new friends. *The actual theft of a car isn't difficult. The hard part is selling it once you have it. Between the license, registration, tax records and VIN numbers, it's surprisingly hard to turn a car into cash. The best approach, is to start with clean paperwork on another car from out of state, then match the stolen to the clean paper work. That means new VIN tags and a new registration. And in case someone decides to check closely, some hydrochloric acid and a file will make the etched VIN number on the chassis impossible to read. *There are a couple of ways to make a car bullet resistant. $60,000 dollars worth of titanium siding will do the job. Or you can pick up a couple extra copies of the yellow pages from your local phone company. Most non-armor-piercing bullets will only penetrate a phone book to the depth of an inch or two. Behind a layer of steel, it's more like a 1/4 of an inch. Commercially available foam sealants will keep your tires rolling long enough to get you out of danger. For the windows, dual-layer high-density Plexiglas is your best bet. It's expensive, but bullet-proof glass is not the sort of thing you skimp on. *Countless wars have been fought over misunderstandings, tragic mistakes, misperceptions, that turn people against each other forever. Of course, it's not so tragic when you're the one creating the misunderstanding. *When you booby-trap someone else's place, you put the trigger in the door or just inside so the odds of tripping it are much higher. If you rig your own place, the trigger has to be farther inside so you can safely enter. A trip wire is a quick and dirty version, but a contact plate under the rug is completely undetectable. Put a little accelerant on the walls, and there's a reason they call it a firetrap. Full Recap Michael and Fiona set out to find the bomber responsible for disrupting Carla's plans and nearly assassinating Michael. They investigate the bomber's last-known place of employment, which is a storage facility. During their investigation, Fiona argues with Michael about why he is searching for the bomber. Michael has to remind her that he could possibly be the key to undermining Carla and hopefully slip out of her grip. Fiona briefs Michael on the layout of the facility. He poses as a technician looking to upgrade their machines. During the upgrade operation, the female employee makes a phone call to her boss. As Michael swaps out the surveillance camera boxes, he tries to smooth talk the boss assuring him everything is okay. However, the boss does not believe him and Michael hangs up on him. To make the getaway, Michael pretends to make a phone call, but triggers the office's phones to ring simultaneously, distracting the female employee long enough to escape with the surveillance box. Michael and Fiona have Chinese Food back at his loft while they review the surveillance footage. Fiona tries to break the tension, but Michael is not having any of it. She is concerned that Michael is turning into a soulless errand boy, but he reminds her he is trying to slip away from her. Michael spots the bomber on the surveillance video carrying a collapsible ladder and wearing a worker outfit passing a camera twice in ninety minutes the day of the bombings. He saves the image so they can begin identifying the bomber. Michael meets Sam at Carlito's and passes the bomber's image over to him. His uniform is supplied by the City of Miami Works. While Fiona looks into identifying the bomber, Sam offers Michael a way to take his mind off of his attempted assassination. He proposes to help an old friend with a favor in exchange for Miami Dolphins tickets. His friend's name is Sean Martin, a local high school football coach. The duo meet Sean Martin, who works to help disadvantaged kids from the roughest neighborhoods of Miami and put their talents to good use. Sean needs help with one of his favorite players, Corey Jensen, who got into a fight with a local gangster named Felix Cole. Felix has put a hit out on Corey for his humiliation. Corey is at Sean's place now, but Michael and Sam are interested in meeting with him and taking him out of his home. As the duo is leaving the football field, Carla is at the gate waiting on Michael with a team parked outside. She demands a meeting with him. Michael tells Sam to meet him back at the loft. At Carla's office, Carla demands Michael for an update on his investigation. She briefs Michael on the company's analysis of the materials and methods used against Michael. The analysis reported the bombings were consistent with the bombings used against other operatives in the field. Carla hands Michael a file folder containing leads on who the bomber might be. She allows Michael to view the files as long as he keeps it here on the premises under threats of death. Michael is tasked to find a pattern within that they can use. Michael returns to the loft after having given false information that the bomber may have come from Serbia or Montenegro. Sam is there to meet him with a heads-up that Fiona is taking Corey and his sister's case personally. Upstairs in the loft, Corey and his sister, Tanya, introduces themselves to Michael with Fiona there to keep them company. Fiona retells the incident that got Corey in trouble: Felix took Tanya for a ride in his car and attacked her. She managed to escape. When Corey found Tanya crying, he took a baseball bat and hit Felix with it as a message to never touch Tanya again. Fiona tells Corey he has nothing to apologize for and advises him to use a golf club next time. In retaliation, Felix's crew came to his house looking for him and tried to shoot him on the street. Michael wants a word with Fiona in the balcony. Fiona wants no arguments about helping the kids out. Michael suggests that they leave it up to the police to help them, but Fiona retorts that they will help when Corey is murdered, making them investigate a homicide. Michael offers to escort them safely out of Miami, but Fiona disagrees, saying they did nothing wrong. Michael tells Fiona that her emotions are getting in the way, which Fiona agrees with and allowing them to run the show. Fiona finally gets Michael to relent and agrees to punish Felix for his crimes. Corey shows Michael and Fiona J's Lounge, Felix's nightclub, where Felix operates his business from. Felix is a car thief and his crew boosts cars for the 24K Crew. He drives a red Pontiac GTO as his personal car. Since his fight, the 24K Crew has been hunting Corey all over Miami. A big man in a suit, Tony Soto, is Felix's boss, who they spot for future references. Felix is supported by Tony for as long as he is able to boost cars and make money for him. Corey is afraid that Michael and Fiona may not be able to help, but Fiona assures him they will. Back at the loft, Sam apologizes to Michael for not having known all the details of Sean's favor. When Michael addresses to Fiona that Felix is well connected, Fiona offers the idea of disconnecting him from his gang resources. She suggests starting a new gang to make Felix look bad for Tony's business and eventually have him cut off. Sam decides its time to stash Corey and Tanya someplace safe until the job is over. Madeline is thrilled to have Corey and Tanya over at her house and she decides to make spaghetti. Michael apologizes for bringing his clients over to the house to be stashed safely, but Madeline is okay with that because it is the only way to see her son. She also thanked Michael for bailing Nate out of jail, but Michael figures out it was Carla's people who had him released as though no crime was committed. Michael, Sam, and Fiona don black and white suits to dress uniformly and form a sharply-dressed gang. Their first order of business is to intimidate Felix on the street. They begin by driving up to the side of Felix's GTO. Michael sets off a pepper gas grenade and chucks it into the car. While Michael holds Felix up at gunpoint, Sam walks up to the tires and shoots them out with a shotgun. Fiona burns through the GTO's engine block with a coffee can full of thermite. Before leaving, Michael warns Felix to leave Miami. At Madeline's home, Michael explains to Corey the steps they are taking to gain Felix's attention. Madeline brings by some stale crackers from the pantry, which Corey eats happily. During their conversation, Michael shows Corey some surveillance photos, which Corey identifies as Felix's top boosters. Michael wants to know about Corey's family so they can warn them about Felix. Corey tells him they have family up north and also recognizes Coach Martin (Sean) as family. Sam has a chat with Sean on the football field and asks him to keep his head down until their business with Felix ends. At the loft, Michael and Fiona prepare a shape charge (Spy tip alert!). Fiona made progress on Michael's would-be assassin by tracing his last-known place of employment to A.S.A. Dismantling, a company the City of Miami contracts for demolition work. She admires the explosive they made together with Michael. The trio prepare to storm J's Lounge to give Felix a bigger scare. Sam surveiled that Felix and his crew hang out in a separate bar in the back from where their regular customers hang out at. Before storming the place, Sam gives Michael a newly-printed business card along with Michael's new identity. While Felix is distraught at a meeting about how to find the people who destroyed his car, Fiona prepares the back door for breaching using the shape charge they made earlier. Sam takes the lead and points the shotgun at the crew. Fiona follows, pointing her gun at the gang. Michael struts in last and introduces himself as "Johnny," placing the business card on the bar. He identifies himself and his partners as a car theft ring who is interested in establishing a business here in Miami. The problem is that Felix is in the way, so they tell him he has 48 hours from now and counting to leave Miami or they will handle him and his gang personally. Felix is not intimidated, but while Johnny and Sam continue their threat, Fiona empties out a whiskey bottle on the bar. After explaining to Felix about the kinds of headaches he could have in Miami, including the unbearable heat, he caps off his threat with "your place is on fire" before Fiona sets fire to the bar. Felix threatens to kill them later when he finds them. Sam takes off on a grocery shopping trip for Madeline to resupply the house with the food that Corey has been eating while Michael and Fiona return to the loft. They reminisce the last time they did a job together wearing disguises. The last time was when they were romantically together in Ireland, Fiona's home country. At that time, she knew him only as Michael McBride, and Michael starts speaking in an Irish accent. Fiona wonders where he is now. Michael reminds her that he only needs to be who he needs to be at the right time. Fiona walks away upset about they had together. Michael asks her to tell him when he sees the bomber. Fiona huffs and puffs out of the loft, replying "I'll give him a kiss for you." At A.S.A. Dismantling, Fiona poses as Nina Roberts, publisher for a calendar publishing company, to meet with Eric about getting a list of names and photos of the employees at the company. Eric agrees. On isolated occasions, Michael, Sam, and Fiona hunt down and subdue Felix's top boosters to disrupt Felix's business. After gagging and binding them, they bring them back to J's Lounge. They offer Felix back his boosters as a "going-away present" since they are still keeping the time Felix has left to leave Miami safely. Felix draws his weapon and tries to fight them, but Johnny and his gang draw their guns too, letting them know they're willing to throw down in broad daylight. Johnny reminds Felix he has 23 hours and 14 minutes left to leave. He gets a phone call from Tony Soto to meet him personally about his business, but only wants to meet Johnny alone. In exchange, Tony will leave two of his men with Sam and Fiona to guarantee his safety. Johnny is taken to a cigar club where Tony and his confidantes are hanging out, enjoying brandy and cigars. Tony is growing weary of Felix and is ready to strike a new deal with Johnny. Johnny wants to be the only car theft ring operating in Miami. Tony wants Johnny to report to him if that is what Johnny wants. Johnny is willing to deal with Felix and assures him his business is smarter and the cars they steal are of higher value than cars that Felix has stolen before. Tony decides it's time to test Johnny's skills in an "audition." He assures him that depending on how Johnny handles cleaning and cloning a silver Maserati Tony's guys just ripped off will determine if either Felix or Johnny will be disposed of. Michael brings the Maserati back to the loft with Sam waiting. Sam reported to Michael that Felix put out a bounty all over the neighborhood on Corey. Michael sees this as Felix panicking and has to prove himself to Tony so he can stay in his good graces. They begin the process of cleaning the Maserati they can put up for sale (Spy tip alert!). After finishing the job, Sam offers to take the Maserati for a spin to see if it's clean while Michael meets up with Carla in a black SUV. Carla hands Michael over folders containing names of bombers who came from or operated out of Eastern Europe (including Fiona's). She drops Michael off in the middle of the street before taking off. Corey and Tanya go over some of Madeline's family photos, particularly their Christmas family photo when Michael was 15. When Tanya mentions that she and Corey never had a happy family, Madeline replied "neither did we." Madeline recounts the time the photo was taken when Michael was trying to defend Nate as a teenager. Michael ended up with a black eye before Madeline threatened to throw away their Christmas dinner until they kept calm long enough to take their family photo. Corey was amazed that Michael fought his dad, but Madeline told him that he was being a good big brother like Corey is for Tanya. Eric hands over a folder to Fiona at A.S.A. containing the names and pictures of all of his employees. Fiona tells Eric she will schedule photo shoots in a few weeks before taking off. Outside, Fiona thumbs through the photos and finds the bomber (now identified as Derek Poole). She calls Michael and updates him with this information and tells him she is going to track down his residence. After the call, Michael gets a knock on the door. Sam answers and finds a bloodied and beat-up Sean. Sean explains to Michael and Sam that Felix intimidated and roughed him up to find Corey. Felix threatened Sean to set up a meeting with him and Corey or he would start attacking his players. When Sean explained to them that Felix just wants to talk, Michael and Sam disagreed, saying Felix is desperate to kill Corey. Michael sees this as confirmation that Felix is now over the edge and they use this opportunity to push him off. He instructs Sean to set up the meeting as Felix requested. At Carlito's Sam gives Michael an investigation report on the address Felix instructed Sean to tell Corey to meet him at. The address is an industrial alley. Felix has used different industrial alleys in the past to ambush his enemies when he needed to murder them. The guys use this information to set Felix up. Michael and Sam use Corey's car to use for the upcoming ambush. Using stacks of Yellow Pages books, commercially available foam tire sealant, and dual high-layer Plexiglas, they armor the car for protection (Spy tip alert!). Johnny (Michael) and Fiona meet Tony at the cigar club. One of Tony's men hands him a report that the Maserati they cleaned checked out and is off the police's radar. He is impressed and is looking forward to checking out Johnny's operation. Johnny and Fiona drive Tony and his bodyguard to the industrial alley in Corey's car. Tony expected Johnny to drive him in a nicer car, but Johnny and Fiona reply that they do not like to attract attention. Tony commends them for being careful and crazy. He assures the two he will take care of Felix after checking out the operation. On the road, Felix spots Corey's car and tails him to the alley. After reaching the alley, Felix pulls up behind them and opens fire. Tony was unaware that Felix would try to assassinate them, but the armor plating holds up and Johnny makes the fast getaway from the alley. During the trip to a secluded spot where they can dump Corey's car, Fiona calls Sam to pick them up. Tony has made arrangements to be picked up by his men. When Tony was amazed as to how they survived the attack, Johnny told them they armored the car out of necessity against elements like Felix. The gang lets Tony know they're leaving Miami for a while until Tony sorts out his business with Felix. Tony assures them that Felix will be dealt with before Johnny and Fiona get picked up by Sam in Michael's Dodge Charger. Back at football practice, Sean tells Michael and Sam that Felix and his gang picked up and left Miami out of fear that Tony will have them killed. He presents the guys with tickets to the Miami Dolphins game, including one for Fiona. Corey and Tanya thank the boys for saving their lives while asking them to thank Fiona too. Sam wants Corey to get him tickets if he happens to make it to the Super Bowl. After parting ways, Fiona calls Michael and tells him that she found Derek's house (that happens to have not been lived in for a while) and is going in to investigate. Michael tells her to be careful. Inside the house, Fiona unexpectedly sets off a firetrap via a contact plate under the carpets. Michael arrives at Derek's house, which is ablaze. He struggles to fight the fire teams and rescue Fiona, but the fire teams have not had any reports of anyone going in the house. Michael panics and frantically tries to call Fiona repeatedly to see if she is okay before leaving the scene. Later that stormy evening, Michael returns to the loft to find Fiona alive and unscathed by the fire. Fiona's phone was burned out by the fire and needs a new cell phone, explaining why Fiona wasn't able to answer his phone calls. Michael walks up to her and kisses her passionately, expressing that Fiona means so much more to him than she thought. They spend the rest of the night together. The next morning, Michael comes home with breakfast, but finds Carla instead. Carla expects good news from Michael, but Michael told her that everyone on the list she gave to him has been ruled out. Not pleased, Carla reminds him that if he does not find out who tried to kill him and her operatives, she guarantees that Michael's life will be much harder as well as the people who he loves and the other potential clients who may need his help. After Carla departs, Michael calls Fiona. Cast Main *Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen *Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe *Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne *Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen Recurring * Tricia Helfer as Carla Baxter Guest * MIchael Irvin as Coach Shawn Martin * Michael B. Jordan as Corey Jensen * Sticky Fingaz as Felix Cole * Adam Clark as Tony Soto * Chris Marazzo as Derek Poole * Gregg Avedon as Eric Trivia *The episode ends with: : In Memory of JOSE DUARTE 1934-2008 Continuity Errors *The bomb Fiona builds and attaches to the fire exit is different to the bomb seen shortly before its explosion. *When Johnny and Fiona reverse out of the alley way, the doors of the attacking car are open at first, but are somehow closed in the next shot. 211 Category:Season 2 Category:Season 2 Episodes